iPSC CRISPR Facility

The iPSC CRISPR Facility is an expertise center intended to support, help, train and advise researchers with their respective iPSC and CRISPR-Cas9 experiments. The facility collaborates with researchers (UMCG/RUG, non-profit and commercial) that see possibilities for iPSC and/or CRISPR-Cas9 in their research. The facility plans to generate iPSC from human somatic cells derived from multiple sources and provides full characterization of iPSC clones with the option to introduce genetic changes using CRISPR-Cas9 technology.

[[Background iPSC and CRISPR-Cas9

Stem cells are unique because they can keep on dividing and are able to develop into any type of cell in the human body. Thereby, stem cells have the capacity to regenerate damaged tissues, making them very interesting from a therapeutic perspective. Stem cells are difficult to acquire, but recent technological advances have made it possible to reprogram already differentiated cells back to stem cells. These so called ‘induced pluripotent stem cells’ (iPSC) are an easy and limitless source of stem cells.

Many human diseases are caused by alterations in the DNA. These mutations can either be inherited or acquired during life. Many disease-causing mutations have been identified over the past decade and techniques have been developed to quickly identify them in patients. Genome editing techniques including Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats associated nucleases (CRISPR-Cas9) show that it is possible to revert disease mutations back to normal, thereby enabling the restoration of normal cell function. Performing genome editing on patient-derived iPSC may allow us to cure diseases in the future. Although these techniques hold enormous therapeutic promise, it is unclear if they are safe enough to be used on patients. The iPSC CRISPR facility will contribute to research aimed to increase our understanding of iPSC and CRISPR-Cas9 and its combined therapeutic potential.

[[Our Expertise

The Facility generates, characterizes and stores CRISPR-edited iPS cell lines. It also closely collaborates with a number of labs holding extensive experience with differentiating iPS cells to a wide variety of cell types. This combined expertise on iPSC and CRISPR allows the Facility to support researchers during any stage of their iPSC and/or CRISPR project, be it either through advice, training or experimental help. The Facility’s basic services include:

Dr. Stefan Juranek

During his PhD in the lab of Hans Lipps, Stefan investigated how DNA rearrangements are orchestrated in ciliated protozoa. He continued as a postdoc working on an episomal vector system for non-viral gene transfer in eukaryotes. During his second postdoc in the lab of Thomas Tuschl at Rockefeller University in New York, Stefan demonstrated RNA loading into Argonaute proteins and identified the nucleic acid factors contributing to the catalytic activity of Argonaute. These findings contribute to our understanding of how siRNA functions using Argonaute. Stefan also studied the function of bacterial Argonaute proteins thereby elucidating the interplay of different, recently described CRISPR-Cas systems within one bacterial species. In 2012, Stefan joined the Biochemistry Department in Würzburg as an independent group leader. His lab focused on the interaction of RNA and proteins in ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes in eukaryotic cells. Stefan is joining the iPSC CRISPR facility team to further explore CRISPR-Cas9 technology and employ it in dynamic living systems like iPS cells.

Ing. Mathilde Broekhuis

Mathilde has been trained as a technician in medical biochemistry at the Saxion Hogeschool in Enschede. After her studies she moved to Rotterdam to work in the lab of Rob Pieters at the department of Pediatric Oncology. She performed cytotoxicity assays and mutation detection on material from leukemia patients. In 2009, Mathilde moved to the lab of Gerald de Haan at the UMCG/RUG. She assisted in fundamental research on the hematopoietic system, performing lineage tracing and in vitro analysis. Lab management also became one of her interests, especially when the lab moved to the new ERIBA institute. Mathilde was the first team member of the new iPSC CRISPR facility that was started up at the end of 2015. As a senior technician she is involved in setting up a the facility lab and performing iPSC and CRISPR-mediated genome engineering.

Ing. Eslie Huizinga

Eslie graduated as a biomedical research technician at the Hanze Hogeschool in Groningen in 2016. She did her graduation project at the Pediatric Oncology department of Eveline de Bont in the UMCG. During this intership she assisted Walderik Zomerman with his work on the role of the CREB protein in medulloblastoma. After her studies she joined the iPSC CRISPR facility as a junior technician, to expand her lab skills in iPSC and CRISPR-CAS9 technology.]]